Facebook 3.1 With Push Notifications Coming Soon

Early this morning developer of the iPhone Facebook application, Joe Hewitt, posted that Facebook 3.03 is on it's way to squash a few bugs. Even bigger news is that update will then be followed by Facebook 3.1 which will include push notifications.

Facebook happens to be one of the most used iPhone applications today while push notifications is the most sought after missing feature from the application. Techcrunch brings up a few valid points regarding how these notifications are currently handled and the potential issues that can arise from an application that will pop up more than a few notifications on your screen. The major issue being if you receive more than one notification you are completely lost as to what the previous notification(s) were for.

Personally I tend to turn off the alerts in certain applications that push a lot of notifications to my iPhone. Applications such as Beejive and Twitbit are just a few that I simply leave the "badge" option on so I can just see how many messages I have. That still does not change the fact that I want a better push notification system...

What are your thoughts on the current push notification system and how would you like to see it improved? Sound off in comments below!

Email Push is currently good enough for my Facebook notifications. But, I guess I'll use its real notifications when updated. No big deal... I mean, does anyone on Facebook really expect instant responses anyway?

Like i said at Techcrunch, the global iphone notification system needs change. We need quick access to all notifications in one place. Popups in the middle of screen are stupid. Having to check app badges, and information app by app, in several screens, is an hassle. Sound only is not a solution.
So please Apple, make it happen, and before OS 4.0 (one year is too late)

@Bill
I agree. While it's a nice start that FINALLY a free application has push notifications, my email alerts are sufficient enough for Facebook. Perhaps this will be a domino effect and other free applications will start offering push notifications. Doubt it, though.

Right now I have Prowler pushing growl alerts from the desktop Facebook Notifications client that receives alerts from facebook. Oh yes, quite convoluted, hilariously so, but it does actually work pretty well, if you don't want a badge or tap through alerts like the real deal will bring.

The problem I have with the notifications is that I swipe so fast to unlock and poof! The notification is gone and I have no idea what it was. Maybe the badge could blink or something. Idk but it is frustrating.

It would be nice if for push notifications and text messages, when you get multiples, it should display the first one received and who sent it, then there should be a little 'next' arrow so you can scroll through them without unlocking your phone...and for long texts you should be able to scroll down to see the whole thing. For Facebook to be tolerable they better have really good fine tuning about what things you want to be notified of at all.

I think there needs to be a "push history" app, or option in the settings, where you can scroll through all previous push notifications. It could be laid out by app, or by time - or customizable by the user.

The iPhones notification system needs a complete overhaul, at the moment it's a completely disjointed mess. At the moment you get an alert and if miss it you've got know idea what it was for. And Ive lost track of the among of times the damn system has interupted me while I'm in the middle of something. Apple need to take a look at the pre and android os's if they want to see how it's done.

Some people are never satisfied, first you wanted push.. now you want a better notification system.. Well you are right.. we need somthing that could tally up messages like we see with missed calls, voicemails and text messages